....Next Easiest
Way: The Incubator:
There’s really
nothing hard about hatching chicks via incubation. If you can follow
an average cooking recipe, you can run an incubator. The principles
are the same- good ingredients, proper equipment, attention to directions,
and the correct cooking temperature.
Incubators come in
all shapes and sizes- from a tiny pod for 3 eggs, to a behemoth capable of
hatching out hundreds at once. For the average family farm wishing to
hatch out a few batches of eggs per year, the Styrofoam variety available
at the local Tractor Supply or Farm and Fleet is more than sufficient.
I’ve used the kind with a fan, and without, and can’t really say I’ve
noticed a difference in hatch rate. I turn the eggs by hand, not by
automatic turner. I believe in the tenet that the less moving parts
a thing has, the more difficult it is for me to break it.
Your ingredients, of
course, are the eggs themselves. Clean (but not washed) eggs can be saved
for up to a week at room temperature pointy end down in an egg carton.
This should give you time to amass the embryos of your future flock. Once
you have enough eggs, set up your incubator according to directions.
It should sit in a
quiet place- somewhere it’s not likely to be jostled, bumped, or subjected
to strong drafts either hot or cold. Add water to the proper
receptacles. Turn it on and give it overnight to make sure it’s holding
the proper temperature. The ideal temperature for chickens is right
at 100F. Once the incubator is holding steady at 100F, it’s time to add
your eggs.
As
you lay the eggs in the incubator, take a crayon and mark an ‘X’ on one
side. Lay all the eggs X-up. You’ll need to turn the eggs at
least three times a day to keep the embryos from adhering to one side of
the shell. Studies have shown that a hen will turn her eggs every HOUR,
but clearly the hens don’t have laundry, cooking, or outside employment to
take up their spare time, so my eggs make do with the thrice daily
routine. When turning the eggs, turn OVER the ends, not just flipping from
side to side.
That’s it.
Make sure the temperature stays correct, the water doesn’t dry up, and the
pre-chickens get turned three times a day.
For 18 days.
The morning of the
19th day, fill ALL the water receptacles, remove both stoppers
from the lid, and turn those babies one last time. From here on, all
you do is peer through the windows and make sure the temperature stays at
100F - baby chicks make a lot of heat getting ready to hatch.
I love hatch day.
I hate hatch day.
Hatching is hard
work, and it’s supposed to be. Don’t give in to the urge to help
out... It’ll end up badly... Trust me.
Don’t remove the
chicks till they are fully dry, no matter how pitiful they sound and no
matter how much they are rolling their un-hatched siblings around the
incubator- the movement and sound of the other chicks actually encourages
those still inside to get a wiggle on and get hatching.
My least stressful
hatch day so far was this most recent. I actually timed incubation
so that the last turning coincided with our leaving town for a few days-
the only thing my pet sitter had to do was check the temperature.
On day 21 we arrived
home mid-evening. I went straight to the incubator and lifted the lid to
have 19 beautiful dry little chicks POUR over the sides. What a welcome
home!
Newly hatched
incubator chicks need to be treated the same as newly arrived hatchery
chicks (since they’re basically the same critter- without the airplane
ride). Once dry, they need a warm, Not Hot, place to live. Unless
you’re hatching in the middle of winter (and why would you?), actual room
temperature should be fine as long as there are no drafts. Our
non-air-conditioned house stays right around 80 in the summertime, which
is perfect for chicks. Heat lamps are WAY too hot for my peace of
mind- they are a fire hazard and it’s very easy to overheat chicks, which
will kill them every bit as quickly as chilling. If there’s a true
need for auxiliary heat, please use a regular light bulb.
Make sure you dip
each chick’s beak into the water and have it watch you 'peck" at the food
with your finger. Free feed them the Special Baby Chicken food (that
awful looking gray stuff) and all the fresh water they want for the first
week or so, then start adding scraps/scratch a little bit at a time.
Congratulations-
you’ve just hatched out your very own next generation of poultry.
